New transportation bill may ease transit funding rules

Current bill expires in Sept.

Steve Hawley, Apr 20, 09.

The upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill will likely make it easier for transit projects to obtain federal funding, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The article cites Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who told officials in Johnson County, “The transportation system needs to do more than take people where their roadway goes. It needs to take people where the people want to go.”

The current transportation bill, authorized in 2005, expires in September. Oberstar expects that a new bill would provide $450 billion in transportation funding through 2014.

Current funding rules are significantly more stringent for transit projects than highways, and once funding has been approved, highways receive 80 percent federal funding, while transit projects only receive 50 percent.